If SYWTBAW was turned into a movie...

[Jenn]

I love movies based on books, but there's only one problem with them:
If there's someone my age (or a bit older) in a book, who sort of fits my physical description, I imagine myself starring in a movie as that character. I'm really into acting. For instance, I was devestated when Ella Enchanted came out. Also, I was upset because it was so different from the book I love so much. Though if DD's writing the script, it'll be as close to the book as possible...
And they should cast like A Series of Unfortuanate Events, with some unknowns in the kid leads (Me, I wish) and one or two famous people as adults. I don't think Jim Carey would work too well, though...(For Jim Carey fans: I'm not saying he's a bad actor, he's just mainly known for comedy.)

[Cassie]

I think it would make an awesome movie, with just the one book. There have been bad book to movie movies and in my opinion HP 3, too much information left out. But this book has good sized print and isn't that thick. Just a couple of hours.

I've been dreaming of this being a movie since I first read SYWTBAW in 6th grade, but I've only read the first 5.

[Eavan Moore]

The possible actors linked to above precisely illustrate the problem with movie adaptations. One's own sense of a character is a very personal and fragile thing, and some of those suggestions horrified me. If a movie came out, I couldn't bring myself to watch it unless DD declared that it fulfilled her vision and this is who we were meant to see all along. But hasn't she said that she owns the rights to her books and won't let them become movies unless she can write the screenplay (and, I assume, have final say on things like casting)?

To the trailer -- somber and expectant seems like the right mood to go with. I like Brenna's suggestion of the Oath. That could be really powerful.

[Wizardling]

Originally posted by Fay:
If the SYWTBAW ever gets tunred into a movie, DD, feel free to use this for a trailer. , I doubt it's that amazing though because it was just a product of a bored mind...

Trailer starts, we see Nita and Kit standing in Tom and Carl's yard. Flash to inside. Tom: Come on bird be useful. Is there something you know that these kids ought to?
Peach: I want a raise!
Carl: (Bonks Peach's beak [I know there's dialogue here but I think it could be skipped for a trailer.])
Peach: (Get's a serious look about her, eyes sort of glaze over as she looks Nita and Kit over, some type of intense music starts) Don't be afraid to make corrections (Video clip as she says this of where they are making a correction [I forget where that advice was used]), Don't be afraid to lend a hand (We see Kit edge toward the wounded Lotus), (pause, music gets more intense) And don't look down (We see Nita and Kit running on the 'airwalk' being chased by the perytons)

Yes! That's exactly as I imagined it! :-) One thing I'd change is have Peach give Tom, Carl & Co a bit more sass. You could really work up some tension with Peaches comments and the associated action. Also, I wouldn't flash between Peach and an action clip too much - way too cliched. I'd have Peach introduced, then do a voiceover of the advice as relevant scenes appear on screen.

[Lauren]

Hmm I'm conflicted about a YW movie. I was *keyword in that sentence is WAS* a fan of Harry Potter, but needless to say after the crap surrounding the sixth book, not to mention the third movie, I've given up on that series.

It could be done well. DD has all the power! The director must do what she says! Mwuahaha!

..Ahem. Anyway, those suggestions for actors for the parts were...okay. I rather liked Anna Paquin as Nita, though she to old now. Lindsay Lohan as Dairine?? Umm that's like casting Paris Hilton as the part of Carmella. *shudders at the thought*

Julianne Moore rather fits my ideal for Mrs. Callahan. Well, she's as close as the ideal I think, if only her hair was shorter...and I think that girl from the Spy Kids movies... Alexis Vega I think her name is...she could be a decent Carmella, I think.

Of course that's all off the top of my head, I can't begin to think of who could be Kit or Nita. Unknowns would have to be cast in those parts.

It could be a good thing... but it could be a bad thing. Arrrgh! Now my head hurts.

[Peter Murray]

Originally posted by Eavan Moore:
But hasn't she said that she owns the rights to her books and won't let them become movies unless she can write the screenplay (and, I assume, have final say on things like casting)?

I think DD said in a chat that writers don't usually have any control over casting. JK Rowling seems to have had some say on the Harry Potter casting, but I don't know if that's because the producers wanted her advice, rather than because they had to take it.

[Kathy Li]

Actually, I'd be willing to bet they HAD to pay attention to her. Generally, they won't option your book and give you any rights to stop anything they want to do with it. But if you're Stephen King or J.K. Rowling and you've sold billions of copies worldwide, then they want you a bit more, and you've got some more bargaining power and can probably get some kind of approval rights written into the contract.

The reason studios won't give said control without a good reason is obvious: how many people do you want sticking their oars in when you've sunk 100 million bucks on a project?

The only other way to get that kind of control over a film/tv version is to be the producer, i.e., the person controlling the money. (The screenwriter is probably the least powerful person on a movie).

Lindsay Lohan as Dairine? Errr... she's almost twenty. I think it's a little late.

[Lauren]

Well you also have to consider the fact that JK Rowling probably couldn't convert any of her books to a screenplay to save her life, so while she does have some say in all the decisions... ulitimately she must hand over her story to someone who knows how to write screenplays.

DD has the advantage of knowing how to do this type of thing, so she knows the process. Perhaps if all authors also could write screenplays other book/movie adaptations would have turned out well.

Well, the director gets some creative license and the editors finish the movie off as the final product. So if DD could find just a great all around crew that listens to her and takes her seriously... then you have probably one of the best book/movie adaptations there is.

...wow that a lot of things that have to happen...

[Lamarquise]

I've been thinking about this, and one of the things I keep coming up against when I try to write a trailer for a movie treatment for the first book is a problem of audience. Nita and Kit in the first book are thirteen and twelve, respectively. Teenagers want to identify with older teens or young adults, not kids younger than them. And yet our favorite wizards' ages are important and establish their power level. But how many children or young teens understand entropy and the laws of thermodynamics? The kinds of fun concepts and mental exercises and science Duane uses? Duane can get away with it all in a book...Nita and Kit think a lot older than they are, so they're fun as protagonists. On the movie screen, it's harder to avoid. Or find actors to pull it off. Not to mention that most movies targeted to appeal to teens or adults have a lot more content issues than the Young Wizards series. Teens and adult viewers expect certain things out of a movie and some might think this was too tame for them. I'm not saying that it can't be done...only that it's more difficult than I thought it would be at the first. Personally, I think SYWTBW could make an awesome movie and I'm all for stories like this that are fun, intelligent, and family friendly.

[Gigo]

*reads Kathy's post* Lindsay Lohan? As DAIRINE? *bursts out laughing* Lol lol lol!

Larmarquise: that's a pretty common problem in book-to-movie things. *tilts head for no good reason* Family friendly? Uh. Methinks that if there ever IS a movie, it would be inclined towards more 'subtle humor'. Umm...*thinks of an example* I don't know. Shrek/2, maybe. XD

SYWTBAW would have to be kind of twisted to get it to work in a movie. But then: doesn't every book?

I seriously hope it isn't like A Series of Unfortunate Events. But that WOULD be interesting.

...Nita finds her manual *woosh* walking on air bit *woosh* Dark Manhattan *woosh* Whales *woosh* Mars *woosh* the mobiles*woosh* Credits. XD

Kinda hard.

And then we have to go into whether we should watch the movie or not, it ruining your images of the characters and such....

I'll leave that to you.

[Kathy Li]

Actually, I think more than age-appropriate or whatever type issues, the most difficult thing for any YW film/television adapation would be how to externalize all the internal stuff that happens.

Like, how the Speech works, or the way a spell is structured. How, when Nita discovers that the manual is an actual manual, that she's doing that mental STOMP thing of study... how do you externalize that? How do you show it visually? How do you indicate that part of the Speech of trees is leaf-flicker? The magic of Nita's name showing up in the book after she's taken the Oath (especially in these post-webpage, post-Harry Potter film days).

It's not unique to the YW books, of course. Any novel when it's adapted has this kind of problem. I still don't agree with how Jackson visualized the Ents in LoTR, but hey, that was his solution.

Gigo--Lohan wasn't my idea, I was responding to Lauren's post. And, actually, back in the Parent Trap days, she wouldn't have been a bad choice.

[Nitta]

I would personally hate for SYWTBAW to become a film. I know I have no say wich really sucks but I wouldn't want to watch it because it would ruin the imagination in it but the curiosity would kill me if I didn't see it. For me, the best part of a book is being able to imagine it. You get to control how you see the situation. You can be the charater yourself, or you can be standing beside them watchng. Movies take that away because they do that for you. Plus the characters are fun to imagine aswell. I mean sure the author gives you a discription but if ever I don't like the description i always make up my own. Movies you can't do that. I love the books! I think a movie would ruin them unless they did it really well.

[Caitlin]

If they ever made YW movies, they would definitely have to be One Book-One Movie thinguses. You just can't put more than one of these into a movie. Nada.

Although I can see them begin made into movies, and it being good for the books...the movie would pull in both YW fans and the younger HP fans (if not even some of the older more obsessed HP fans). 'twould also pull in people who want to see magic that isn't without consequence, those who believe it should be real. And everybody who saw the movie would then go out and buy the book. So voila!

::comtemplates the semi-goodness of it::

...but of course, there'd be my total anger at anythingus left out. hmm...

[Peter Murray]

Caitlin said:
...but of course, there'd be my total anger at anythingus left out. hmm...

Don't forget, DD's said that she'd write the first draft and veto script changes she didn't like.

So you'd be angry at DD for changing her own story .

I suppose the closest we have to seeing how DD would handle the Speech is looking at her parts of the Wizards On Call project.

[Angel]

I think it would be great for SYWTBAW to be turned into a movie. Yes, there would have to be some details left out and some people would have to deal with different character visualizations...but I think it would be an amazing opportunity for the books AND the more visually inclined people who prefer movies. ^^ I love books, myself, but a good movie is always in order.